The Centre chaired a meeting with the States and Union Territories (UTs) on the inoculation of age-appropriate groups and the extension of the vaccination programme in advance of the next step of Covid-19 vaccination, beginning on 1 March.
The process of developing private hospitals as vaccination centres for Covid was also addressed during the meeting, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in a statement. Here are the specifics of the next steps of the Covid 19 vaccine programme.
The nationwide Covid-19 Vaccination drive was launched on 16th January 2021. This is now to be exponentially expanded to the following age-groups from 1st March 2021:
i) All citizens above 60 years of age, and
ii) Those within the age bracket of 45 to 59 years with specified co-morbidities
The basic features of version 2.0 of the digital platform CO-Win, which is population-scale software with the capacity to process several thousand entries, have been clarified by the States and UTs. The new step of age-appropriate community vaccination would increase the number of Covid vaccinations in the world.
The fundamental improvement in this process with a citizen-centred approach is that people in the age groups listed, as well as those healthcare workers and frontline who have been skipped or left out of the current vaccination phase, will choose the vaccination centres of their preference. Secondly, hospitals in the private sector will be involved as COVID Vaccination Centers to leverage their ability.
It was pointed out that all Covid Vaccination Centers (CVCs) must be health facilities as under:
- Government health facilities such as SHCs, PHCs, CHCs, Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres, Subdivision Hospitals, District Hospitals and Medical College Hospitals.
- Under the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (AB-PM JAY) and related State Health Insurance Schemes, all private hospitals are merged.
States/UTs were asked to ensure that the private health facilities mandatorily must have the following for using them as COVID Vaccination Centres:
i) They must have adequate space for the vaccination process, as detailed in the comprehensive SOPs issued by the Ministry;
ii) They must have basic cold chain equipment for storing the vaccine vials;
iii) They must have their own team of vaccinators and staff;
iv) They must have an adequate facility for the management of any AEFI cases.
All beneficiaries, regardless of the mode of access, must be advised to carry any one of the following photo ID document:
i) Aadhar Card
ii) Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC)
iii) The Photo ID card specified at the time of registration in case of online registration (if not Aadhar or EPIC)
iv) Certificate of co-morbidity for citizens in the age group of 45 years to 59 years (signed by a registered medical practitioner)
v) Employment certificate/ Official Identity Card – (either but with photo and date of birth) for HCWs and FLWs
The States and UTs have explained the simplified process of registration, which shall be through three routes:
i) Advance Self-Registration:
By installing the CO-Win 2.0 portal and via other IT applications such as Arogya Setu etc, the recipients will be able to self-register in advance.
This will display the date and time of the timetables available to the government and private hospitals operating as COVID Vaccination Centres (CVCs). The beneficiary will have the right to select the CVC of his/her choosing and book a vaccine appointment.
ii) On-site Registration:
The basic features of version 2.0 of the digital platform CO-Win, which is population-scale software with the capacity to process several thousand entries, have been clarified by the States and UTs. The new step of age-appropriate community vaccination would increase the number of Covid vaccinations in the world.
iii) Facilitated Cohort Registration:
The fundamental improvement in this process with a citizen-centred approach is that people in the age groups listed, as well as those healthcare workers and frontline who have been skipped or left out of the current vaccination phase, will choose the vaccination centres of their preference. Secondly, hospitals in the private sector will be involved as COVID Vaccination Centers to leverage their ability.
Under all the above three routes, all beneficiaries would be captured on the Co-WIN2.0 platform and would be issued digital QR Code based provisional (on receiving the first dose) and final (on receiving the second dose) certificates. These can be downloaded from the link shown in the SMS the beneficiary shall receive after the vaccination. Print out of these certificates can also be taken from the Vaccination Centres.
States and UTs have been asked to keep the Vaccination Scale-up Plan ready, which will include weekly granular and fortnightly plans to scale up vaccination sites both inside government and private facilities, as well as the number of vaccine doses administered.